The prize is 68 MHz of spectrum at 1.4 GHz. In the US and Canada, this spectrum has been allocated for Mobile Satellite systems but it can also be used for Ancillary Terrestrial Services - that is services that are ancillary to the satellite services! This spectrum would be good cellular spectrum if you could get it, being above the 800 MHz original cellular bands but below the 1.9 GHz PCS bands. Technically, the satellite signals go up and down while the ancillary signals go mostly horizontally, so they are relatively independent. The big question is: Can anyone afford to launch satellites and run satellite services just so they can also use this spectrum for LTE services at ground level?

Gigaom has been skeptical, but when you stack up the estimated $5B to build a network against the possible value of this spectrum at auction, i.e. 68 MHz at US$1.2 per MHz-POP (the price paid in the US 700 MHz auctions) and 335 million POPs in the US & Canada you get roughly $27B. That math could work...